Are we already having rolling blackouts in US?

www.dom.com...

progressivemaryland.org...

www.news8austin.com...

Some random links to current news stories of power overloads, and power supply problems listed above, but the most telling is the Red-Cross flyer:

What is a “Rolling Blackout?”
A rolling blackout occurs when a power company turns off electricity to selected areas to save
power. The areas are selected using sophisticated computer programs and models. The
blackouts are typically for one hour, then the power is restored and another area is turned off.
Hospitals, airport control towers, police stations, and fire departments are often exempt from
these rolling blackouts. These blackouts usually occur during peak energy usage times,
usually between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on weekdays, but they can happen at any time of day.
Blackouts may affect the same area more than once a day, and may exceed an hour’s duration.

www2.redcross.org...

This is happening now, but we have not been informed of it!

Read my brother's accounts below. This has been going on for at least 3 years, but the public does not know just how fragile our supply vs. demand power grid is!

My brother has been complaining about this phenomenon for the past 3 years. We all know about California's rolling blackouts, and there are innumerable headlines about upcoming power shortages as early as 2010, but many think it is already happening.

Over the past 6 years, my brother has lived in 4 different cities along Florida's panhandle. In that time, he became suspicious of power outages that lasted exactly 1 hour! These typically came in mid-afternoon, or middle of the night.

He complained to me about it many times, and I began to notice a similar pattern in an entirely different city. Typically the news does not cover the event at all, but if there is a short story, it will have an explanation of "short-term circuit overload" or a breaker or a junction that was inadvertently tripped. They are being lied to by the power companies!

It happens once or twice per month, but more often in the summer.

At one point, it was so consistent my brother began keeping a log. During one 6 month period in Pensacola, he recorded exactly 60 minute power outages at 3 pm or 3 am every 3 weeks. There were other outages that could easily be attributed to storms, lightning, car crashes, etc., but the 60-minute outages had no explanation. When he contacted his power company, no one had an explanation, and only promised to look into it for him. He was encouraged to call the next time it happened, and when he did, he was given the inadvertent switching explanation!

So according to the Red Cross flyer, and our personal accounts, these are 1-hour planned outages, organized by a computer, and spread about the country taking care to avoid critical services. This is a concerted and organized effort spread among hundreds or thousands of power companies, and communities. This certainly has all the ingredients of a conspiracy.

No one is being harmed much by the actions at this point, but if our power supply is at such a critical load, shouldn't the public be informed? Shouldn't we be taking more precautions? Shouldn't this be a major news story?

Energy Conservation Recommendations
To conserve power to help avoid a blackout, the power industry recommends:
• In heating season, set the furnace thermostat at 68 degrees or lower. In cooling season, set the thermostat
at 78 degrees or higher. Consider installing a programmable thermostat that you can set to have the furnace
or air conditioning run only when you are at home. Most power is used by heating and cooling, so adjusting
the temperatures on your thermostat is the biggest energy conservation measure you can take.
• Turn off lights and computers when not in use. This is especially true about computer monitors – avoid
using a “screen saver” and just simply turn the monitor off when you won’t be using the computer for a while.
Turn the computer off completely each evening. It is no longer true that computer equipment is damaged
from turning it off and on.
• Close windows when the heating or cooling system is on.
• Caulk windows and doors to keep air from leaking, and replace old windows with new, energy-efficient
windows.
• Clean or replace furnace and air-conditioner filters regularly.
• When buying new appliances be sure to purchase energy-efficient models.
• Wrap the water heater with an insulation jacket, available at most building supplies retailers.
• If you have to wash clothes, wash only full loads and clean the dryer’s lint trap after each use.
• When using a dishwasher, wash full loads and use the “light” cycle. If possible, use the “rinse only” cycle
and turn off the “high temperature” rinse option. When the regular wash cycle is done, just open the dishwasher
door to allow the dishes to air dry.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights.
• Use one large light bulb rather than several smaller ones.
For More Information
If you would like more information about rolling blackouts and how to deal with them, contact the power
company that serves your area.

i dont know about a blackout but several times, more than anytime in my life, the power has gone out for a few minutes at least 5-10 times this year, for no reason at all it seems.

reply to post by TheCoffinman


It happened here this morning, without any good explanation. I don't know if it was a 60-minute one, but the power was out to most of Tallahassee, including FSU, and the State buildings! It stormed early last night, but not this morning.

At one point last year, my brother would have a 60 minute outage on one day, and within a couple of days, I would have one at about the same time, but I was 350 miles away from him. We bought stop watches, and it was always exactly 60-minutes!

It seemed the power was being cut to one community, and then the next, and then the next.

I am sure they can save a lot of power this way, by randomly moving the outages around the country. And, I don't fault them for doing so. It may be entirely necessary, BUT, if our power supply is at such a critical level, the public should be informed, and we should be taking collective actions!

Nothing as long as an hour and I think Florida thunderstorms are to blame in my case, but we've been having almost daily power surges and brief outages.

I thought the conspiracy was that these spikes were a way to charge us for more usage.

Originally posted by worldwatcher
Nothing as long as an hour and I think Florida thunderstorms are to blame in my case, but we've been having almost daily power surges and brief outages.

I thought the conspiracy was that these spikes were a way to charge us for more usage.

I think that was an old conspiracy, lol. Now, the transmission lines, and generating facilities are so overwhelmed, I think they are just struggling to keep up! They have stopped worrying about how to charge more for now.

An interesting development hit Tallahassee last week. All the "Energy Consumption" measures were so successful that they are in danger of not reaching their budgeted income! The city buys power, adds on fees and charges and distributes it to the city consumers. The consumers cut back so much, that the city didn't add enough fees to pay their bills! It has been on the local news a couple of times over the past two weeks.

They claim that they are not planning to raise prices or discontinue the grant programs for "going green," but they have to find some extra money some where?!

Start to pay close attention when the power goes out in mid-afternoon, or middle of the night. I bet it is 60-minute increments more often than you realize. That is just long enough to save power, but not get too many complaints. The freezers don't defrost, and nobody gets too antsy.

I love the 1-hour blackouts, too. I thought it happened where I live because of faulty lines.... But, like others, it happens for an hour at times. Star and Flag.

I love when you call the power company, and get a message about how "We are aware of service interruptions in your area, and are working to get it back as soon as possible! ...Your call is very important to us".

I'll pay more attention to the timing, especially since it happens so often. The power outages seem to always coincide with the afternoon thunderstorms, which happen to fall between the hours of 12 and 5pm.

Originally posted by getreadyalready

Start to pay close attention when the power goes out in mid-afternoon, or middle of the night. I bet it is 60-minute increments more often than you realize.

The worst part of the middle of the night ones, is the alarm is then no longer set, and everyone in the house misses work or school. VERY irritating.

Originally posted by LeeannaHolland

Originally posted by getreadyalready

Start to pay close attention when the power goes out in mid-afternoon, or middle of the night. I bet it is 60-minute increments more often than you realize.

The worst part of the middle of the night ones, is the alarm is then no longer set, and everyone in the house misses work or school. VERY irritating.

That is exactly what got my brother complaining this morning, and why I decided to start this thread! I also sleep with a fan for 'white' noise. So when the power goes out, I wake up immediately. If it happens at 3 a.m., I normally just get up for the day.

reply to post by getreadyalready


it's been going on for years actually

reply to post by warrenb


Why did California make such big news, compared to the entire US getting this for years?

Isn't there some liability issues here, if it is intentional and not disclosed? Surely some sort of press-release or notification should be required.

And, if we are already at the max capacity, how will we continue to grow our communities?

The "shrink to survive" comment by Obama, and the massive use of Eminant Domain in the larger urban areas starts to make more sense!

I live in Guatemala and we used to have these exactly hour long black outs before we updated our electrical grid - which took many years and cost who knows how much.

From what I understand, the blackouts on the hour go from area, to area allowing the power company to offer power to more homes when there otherwise wouldn't be enough. If you are having what we call planed outages (60 minute black outs) then I'd say your grid is outdated and unable to meet demand.

Never thought I'd see the day this was allowed to happen in the US. More importantly, why are you being lied to about it?

I live in northern california and I can't say I've noticed these at all. The only thing I've really experienced in the past few years would be a short brown out. Which is where the power doesn't go out, but becomes drained a bit for a few seconds.

Originally posted by badmedia
I live in northern california and I can't say I've noticed these at all. The only thing I've really experienced in the past few years would be a short brown out. Which is where the power doesn't go out, but becomes drained a bit for a few seconds.

Thanks for the input. I think California has made some significant upgrades after their previous fiasco with rolling black outs.

Brown outs, however, are even more damaging to electronics and electrical equipment. They can wreak havoc on computers, TV's, etc.

They can also start fires (which you don't need in Cali), because they are typically caused by a poor connection "arcing" instead of making good contact. Some of the power gets through, but the rest is wasted in sparks, and jumps to a grounding source.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Im going to start a thread for the purpose of keeping track of these blackouts. It happened again tonight for exactly 30 minutes starting at 9 PM tonight until 9:30 PM. Please visit that thread if you read this.